


Show Time

by Red (Red_Balloons)



Series: Alien Codex [5]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: All Tags Updated as Story Continues, Gen, realistic reactions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24613630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Red_Balloons/pseuds/Red
Summary: Summer vacation begins, like expected.Unexpectedly, it involves aliens.
Series: Alien Codex [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745125
Kudos: 3





	1. 0

_[Initiating…]_

_[Opening File_ Recording 10B _]_

_[…]_

_[…]_

_[File_ Recording 10B _is playing]_


	2. Episode One - Voice in Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He lost time that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter is out! Woo!
> 
> Gotta say before you read: This will likely feel like a rehash of the first episode of the show for a long while. It like that on purpose. Kind of. There are obviously changes to Ben's character but I've always had the feeling we didn't see _everything_ that went through Ben's head, even in later episodes in which he grew up. It isn't on any fault of the show writers; there is only so much we can view of a person's mind, even if you choose to go the "Narrator Voice" route that shows up in some fairytale movies/shows. Being as this is written for reading and not viewing, I think it's understandable that Ben's inner-thoughts are different from his spoken-thoughts.
> 
> To some degree, I explain why there's a difference to how Ben thinks and how he acts. Unintentionally came off a little bash-y, but I already planned on there being some...relationship differences obvious from the start, so it isn't all that bade of a change from my standing. Apologies for those who like the character I kind of end up bashing in this chapter - I like them too, but some things rubbed me a little too raw growing up and I'm addressing that here now.
> 
> Aside from that: Hope you enjoy this chapter and the subtle changes from canon I've got going!

* * *

_“It started when an alien device did what it did_  
_It stuck itself upon his wrist with secrets that it hid…”_  
— _Ben 10_ Theme Song

* * *

Benjamin Tennyson was an only child.

His parents had had a hard time conceiving him that neither of them really felt the need to go through the trouble a second time, feeling the work well rewarded with the life of their son but _tiresome_ all the same. Ben, in return, never really felt the need to have a sibling. But that was for more reasons than his parents never making him feel alone - he had an older cousin who had stumbled into being Ben’s older brother simply through habit and Ken’s younger sister, Gwen, had been miraculously born just hours before Ben had been pushed into the world. Those two were enough for Ben in the sibling department, even if they were only pseudo-siblings and he didn’t usually see them outside of holidays and family get-togethers. Or the rare moment when Ben’s parents - Sandra and Carl - or Gwen’s parents - Frank and Natalie - couldn’t take care of their respective children and Ken was unable to watch over them every day until they were back in their normal routines, and Gwen and Ben spent time with their Grandpa Max. Both sets of parents knew themselves and their daily lives well enough that they hardly needed to ship their kids across the city for a few days, though, which was fine with Ben.

It just meant that Ben was rarely around Ken or Gwen. But he still never really felt lonely in the same sense that other single children in his grade seemed to feel it. Yes, Ben felt alone sometimes, but that was usually when he was reminded about how few friends he had that weren’t strictly “school” relationships (meaning, he had none that stuck by him outside of when school was in session. Fair weather friends, his grandfather might have said if Ben had described the situation to him).

Ben’s stance on familial loneliness never changed even as he and his cousins did - Ken grew quieter, more observant and careful as he began stressing over school; Gwen grew into her intelligence with a confidence born of never being challenged, fitting nicely against Ben’s cocky attitude and intellectual rebellion (that was born more through his inability to concentrate than because he feels he doesn’t need to learn what’s being taught, even if other people say that that is why he acted the way he did).

Which was probably the reason why he’d been so surprised at seeing Gwen sitting in their grandfather’s RV upon being picked up on the last day of school. The previous plans Ben had been made aware had been pretty clearly just him and Grandpa Max on the road trip. Though, and he’d only ever admit this to himself, he was somewhat glad to see his cousin.

“Ew, what’s the cooties squad doing here?”

As Gwen shot back, Ben sat down. It was normal for them, even if both of them were unsteadied by the changes to their summer vacation. Even if it hadn’t been what Ben had been promised, he kind of felt less stressed with Gwen there.

He loved Grandpa Max, he really did, but like anyone would say about any relative, too much time alone with a person tends to cause tension when there shouldn’t be any. All because you’re doing something you’re not used to. Granted, Gwen is here too, and Ben has hardly been around her for years. But having a third person around might help ease or shift tensions between them so they’re easier to handle. (There _was_ a reason why people loved triangles, even if Ben found that weird in and of itself. Why worship a _shape_? But three was better than two, so he guessed they might have been onto something despite the weirdness.) So, Ben fell into the common routine he and Gwen had created as they’d grown older, playing his part with the relative ease born from practice and habit.

The day passed mostly in the Rustbucket.

Gwen eventually tired of solely focusing on her cousin and had pulled out her laptop. As Ben lost her attention, he had turned his own outside the RV. The fading sunlight made the sky look awesome and gave the trees slowly closing in on the road a nice contrast - red on dark green, pink on brown. The fields separating Bellwood from the camping ground were sparse with activity this late in the day. From experience given to him while on a field trip last year, Ben knew the farms around Bellwood were taking care to not unnecessarily disturb the plants they’d planted during the spring in hopes of having a more-than-decent harvest in the fall. But the lack of activity just gave way to a clear sky as the were no excess in ground disturbance.

Though, eventually, that grew boring and Ben pulled out his Game Boy. Sumo Slammers never failed to keep Ben’s attention from fading into restless inactivity - the quests were always filled with fight scenes and the down times were always filled with riddles, so there was always something to do no matter how far into the game he was. _And!_ The game always had enough hidden easter eggs that replaying was never truly boring.

Ben had managed to level up three times before Grandpa Max announced that they were at the campsite. Gwen’s responding groan of acknowledgment matched Ben’s, both of them slowly pulling themselves away from their respective technologies to follow the older Tennyson outside to a picnic bench just a few feet from the camper’s door. As he sat down beside his cousin, Ben yawned and rubbed at his eyes, half listening to his grandfather speak about what he had planned for the next three months. There was a lot he wanted to get done; Ben had kind of expected it but knowing both his cousin and their grandfather, there’d be less time to relax than he’d been expecting of a summer vacation. Which, he guessed, wouldn’t be _so bad_.

Meant they’d be able to do a lot.

It _also meant_ Ben would have fun stressing the both of them - though mostly Gwen, the dweeb - out by sometimes dragging them away from their ‘planned fun’. Because _fun_ shouldn’t planned. Ever. So Ben would have to take on the job of being the chaotic factor between the three of them. It was for their own enjoyment, after all. Nothing ever happened if you kept to a plan without deviating from it whatsoever - Ben _would_ know, he’s grown up with Gwen, he’s very familiar with her idea of _‘fun’_.

Then Grandpa Max set a bowl of still-alive mealworms atop the table between the two cousins.

“This summer will also be an adventure for your taste buds,” the older man says proudly, hands up his hips as he watched Ben poke at a wiggling worm that had fallen from the bowl as it’d been set down and Gwen as she inched away from the few that had landed on her side of the bowl.

Not surprising - Max Tennyson was known for his eccentric and gross taste in food - but unwanted. Gwen verbally complained about the sight before her - “Couldn’t we get pizza or burgers?” - and pouted when the only option Grandpa Max felt the need to give them was _sheep’s tongue_.

“I got a few bags of chips and half a pack of gum,” Ben suddenly says, eying the door to the RV as he slid up to Gwen’s side. Glancing over at her, he continued to ask, “What do you have?”

Her grimace said all Ben needed to know.

“Think we can stretch all of it for three months?”

“Not in any healthy way,” his cousin muttered, wrinkling her nose once more at the mealworms. “Think we can kill them before eating?”

“If you’re not too squeamish about it.”

The look on her face - the indignant exasperation that colored her cheeks and turned her eyes into flinty shards of color - was well worth the following series of snide remarks that followed the three of them into the twilight hours. It was common enough for the sting of Gwen’s words to easily be brushed off - why be upset when it’s routine by now? After the two of them choked down enough food to feel full, they’d separated silently to opposite sides of the camp while Grandpa Max cleaned up. Gwen was back on her computer, the keys clacking away faintly in the background of Ben’s mind, just enough to know she was still there. Ben, on the other hand, was back to playing Sumo Slammers, the sounds of the game mixing in rather smoothly with Gwen’s typing and sounds of frustration.

Grandpa Max breaks it though, asking them if they wanted to start a campfire to make s’mores.

Ben would have readily agreed had Gwen not snapped out at _him_ before he could even make a noise. Instead, he got up, pocketing his game with tense movements as he threw “I’ll take a walk instead” over his shoulder. Gwen made a disapproving sound in the back of her throat that sounded like a snort. Grandpa easily accepted his decision with a simple reminder to “be careful, the woods can be dangerous at night!”

It didn’t take him long to lose sight of Grandpa Max and Gwen moving about their little clearing and not much more after that to finally stop hearing them. Ben’s shoulders relaxed and his steps lost their stilted shuffle. As he moved further away from his family, and like he’d been taught, Ben made marks on the ground that were easily found so he could make his way back to them when he had enough of the darkening woods.

He lost time that way.

What was it that his mother always said about nature? “Time always seems to cease when you’re surrounded by silent sentries of times long passed.” It sounded like something she or Ben’s father would say, at the very least. And to some degree it did feel like that. It felt like there was nothing left for him to do but _exist_ as himself, no masks needed.

It also gave Ben time to think without being pulled out of his thoughts with a sharp taunt.

Summer vacation will be filled with such so he might as well take as many moments alone as he could, just to think. Especially since it’s not one of his most favorite things to do - thinking tired him out faster than any math assignment ever had. But it also made him feel calmer than any nap could. So Ben thought as he walked, letting his mind tumble about without worry of where it landed.

He thought about his relationship with his grandfather and his cousin, trying to figure out how said ties would be tested as the three months passed them by. Grandpa Max was always the calmest out of their family - with Ben’s parents being the down-to-earth, _anxious_ ones and Aunt Natalie and Uncle Frank being the sophisticated, _serious_ ones; Gwen was the smart and self-conscious one and Ken was the grounding point - so he and Ben might not have any trouble. _Gwen_ , on the other hand, might be involved with a few burnt bridges. Especially since Ben’s role in their family was the ‘lazy slacker with ego issues’, as she liked to put it.

Water and oil, as his mother would say. That’s how Ben and Gwen were with one another, water and oil.

(Though Ben considered them more fire and gasoline, since they _could_ and _did_ get along when they truly wanted to. It just didn’t always stick and more times than not, and usually ended up with them in trouble.)

It was moments like these - the quiet time alone, just him and his thoughts and no need to worry about maintaining a mask so those around him didn’t worry - that helped Ben realize himself. Even if the topics he was thinking over had nothing to do with him, like that one memorable epiphany about why he had trouble paying attention after thinking about _salamanders_ and nothing else for three hours.

And what was Ben realizing about himself in this moment?

That it was likely nobody in his family _saw him_. And that he didn’t know how to react to that; he’s barely into his preteen years and he’s already having an identity issue. Aren’t those supposed to wait until he was _at least_ fifteen?

Ben shakes himself until he could pull away from that dark turn, coming to a stop in a clearing slightly smaller than the one his family had set up in. Before he considered the clearing in full, he spun to check the ground behind him, wanting to make sure he hadn’t stopped making marks as he got lost in the tide of his thoughts. With a sigh of relief upon finding that even his thoughts hadn’t kept him from staying as safe as he could, Ben checked out the spot.

Like he’d said - it was just a touch smaller than the one Grandpa Max had parked the Rustbucket in, just without a picnic table and fire pit. And there was grass growing evenly around it, unlike the stamped down earth of the campsite.

Before he could move - to turn around and head back, to keep walking forward, or to check out the rocks and logs he could see - Ben glanced up. He had no interest in the stars beyond how much _more_ showed up the farther they got away from civilization, but something in him had him turning his face up, connecting the multitude of dots together with quick glances.

Then he flinched, a streak of light darting across his gaze within seconds before getting brighter. It took him a few moments to realize whatever it was burning brightly in the night sky was headed for _him_. Or the clearing he was in, at the very least. It took him even longer to get his body moving to avoid getting flattened by the burning space object falling from the sky.

The ground buckled like an upset horse beneath his feet, tripping Ben up as he rolled away from where he thought the object was. He hissed in slight pain at the feel of intense heat passing by before everything settled again, dark and silent and still. Ben stared up at the night sky once more, laid out on his back on cool stalks of grass, panting in dazed awe. It takes him several attempts to gather enough of his focus to turn his head to the side. The muscles beneath his scalp tense and buzz gently with the movement, his eyes clearing within moments to see a smoking line of upturned dirt and broken roots shooting beyond where he had stopped moving.

Following it, Ben notes that whatever had made such a large scar on the land couldn’t be seen above the ledge. Sucking in a deep breath at the thought of a possible- _Nope_ , no, not happening; get yourself under control, Benjamin Tennyson. No reason to freak out yet, so don’t get ahead of yourself. Ben gritted his teeth and pushed himself up, carefully getting to his knees even as both his legs and arms shook. The tingle of energy moved from his head down along his spine and spread, warmly, through his limbs. He stood, keeping his eyes on the end of the dug up soil to make sure nothing crawls out of it.

Nothing does.

He begins walking closer to it, ears ringing.

Ben stops at the ledge and stares down into the crater. There is a few moments of confusion where Ben glances in the other direction to check for metal pieces upon seeing the dwarfed metallic _something_ sitting in the middle of dug-up-and-burnt soil and rock and roots. He couldn’t see any that way either and went to giving the thing a confused frown. Ben might not be into space all that much but shouldn’t the cause of so much destruction be _bigger_ or something?

Caution, eventually, loses to Ben’s curiosity.

He slides down the steep slope and stumbles slowly closer to the device. Was it a satellite? Or was it something else that was built and launched in secrete? The skin along his back burns with the intensity of the thought that he was walking closer to something dangerous.

Ben didn’t stop until he was standing beside the object, pushing down some part of his brain that whispered it shouldn’t be this cold beside something made of metal that had been on _fire_ moments ago. He reached out and touched it and-

-promptly jerked back as an opening made itself known.

“What the heck…”

He was more cautious reaching out this time, fingers twitching as the- Should he be worried about that too? Was whatever this thing was manipulating him? As far as Ben was aware, no body part had fallen asleep in the span of however long it’d been since the object showed up in the sky above him. But that’s what it felt like, the tingling, but with more heat behind it than normal.

Before he could think about pulling away to freak out about the general intense feeling of his muscles waking up for the first time in a long time, his fingers brushed against the item that had been housed within the larger metal contraption. A watch, he hysterically notes as he cries out in shock at the thing lunging at him as if it had a mind of its own.

It takes Ben a while to stop freaking out over a watch that _won’t come off_ to find it in himself to breathe properly. Lightheaded from hyperventilating, the young boy stares the _thing_ down numbly. To keep himself relatively calm, Ben carefully begins noting the details of the watch now stuck on his wrist - it’s mostly black and grey but there are bits colored neon green. The band is thick in width and height but not stiff from too much material. The face was… Ben didn’t know how to describe the face; it reminded the boy of an hourglass set into a black background and surrounded by buttons?

And like Ben usually was when faced with the unknown, he let his curiosity guide him to his next action.

He pressed one of the little green nubs set into the side of the watches face, jerking slightly when it clicked into movement. Where the face had been blank of all but the hourglass symbol, there was no a silhouette of something or another smack in the middle. Ben squinted at the image and tried to place it somewhere before lightly grasping the raised dial and turning it, just to see what would happen.

“Sweet,” he breathed numbly as another image - a little more obviously human-shaped than the previous one - replaced the blob-like form. Another twist and a new image. Ben kept going until he was back to the first one, counting away as he did before taking more care to take in the general details he could pick up from the vague images as he went through the ten once more.

As Ben considered the images cycling at a gentle twist of his wrist, a small part of him hysterically pointed out that he wasn’t freaking out anymore. And that a watch that fell from space was now stuck on him, likely to the degree that was more permanent than not. The young human paused, the image before him that of a leg-less figure, and decided that it if hasn’t killed him already it likely won’t in the future. It was all he really needed to let his curiosity take over fully, his hand twisting the dial some more because the image of another figure stood stark against the glowing green and then he pressed down.

Instantly, his world burned.

* * *

* * *

“It’s getting late.”

Gwen looks up from her laptop to stare at her grandfather, the light from the screen casting half of her face in moving shadows from the fire behind her. “He may be a doofus, Grandpa, but he remembers what you taught us. He’ll make it back in one piece.”

The older Tennyson sighed and gave the sky one more glance.

The silence that spread between them sounded and awful lot like _I hope you’re right_.

* * *

* * *

“This is so far from cool,” Ben muttered to himself when he stopped shaking from a new wave of panic and surprise. Then he pauses in the silence after his words fade, registering them carefully before snorting at his unintentional pun.

Taking a deep breath - and pushing away that hysterical voice in the back of his head questioning if this form even _had_ lungs - Ben took stock of himself. He was no longer human - his soft skin had been replaced with charred stone and molten fire, and if he had to guess, he looked like that all over. He likely lost his hair to the heat and flame, but he had no idea if it was replaced with anything. It might have, if the flame-like design from the symbol on the watch could be considered hair made of fire. Should he just assume that’s what that was instead of spikes of burnt-or-burning rock?

Ben shook his head and pulled his attention away from his new form - while trying to push away the panic at _no longer looking like himself_ \- when a flicker moving away from him made itself known. Glancing down at his three-toed feet gave answer for why light was leading away from him: the grass beneath his feet was burning away, making a circular path way from the center he created.

“That’s not good.”

* * *

* * *

“Some idiot must not have dosed their fire out properly.”

Gwen blinks at the second interruption silently. Turning from her laptop to look at her grandfather was derailed by her eyes picking up the slowly brightening glow in the trees not that far away. She feels somewhat disconnected to the issue for a few seconds before she finishes turning to look at the older man.

They both seemed to come to the same horrifying thought.

“ _Ben_.”

* * *

* * *

Ben is shocked still at the fire burning away the trees and shrubs that had been varying shades of healthy green in the clearing immediately surrounding him. Then panic creeps forward, cold and sharp and strong. He thinks to attempt putting out the fire before stopping himself - he was literally _made of fire right now_ , it’d be rather pointless to try putting out fire when he’d only make it worse. He twitches and does his best to keep his fear from pulling him down into the deep dark of his own mind and emotions.

He’ll figure out a way to fix this.

With a sharp sigh, the no-longer-human looks at the only part of him that wasn’t a varied form of red-yellow-orange-brown. The face of the watch was centered on his chest, pulsing slowly with light, in time to what Ben could assume would be his heart in this form. If this body even _had_ a heart.

“This is so not helpful, Ben,” he muttered to himself, shaking out his limbs and jumping slightly in place a few times. “Okay, okay okay okay. How would Gwen handle this situation?”

She’d probably say something about smothering the fire before it spread too far. She’d also probably mention something about firefighters and fire extinguishers. But Ben had no idea how he could smother a fire when he would only start new ones and there were no extinguishers around him. So what else could he do?

_Change._

Ben jerked and spun in a fast, tight circle. “Hello?”

It takes a moment but-

_Hello._

-he gets a response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forewarning: After this, things _might_ get very obviously different compared to canon. But because I don't know and am in the middle of having a college freak out, there won't be another chapter in, I guess, three months instead of one? Just to give me time to actively piece things together without ruining what I'm aiming to do with this series.


End file.
